HEATHROW airport in London has opened a GBP22-million (HK$265 million) transit centre dedicated to the millions of passengers making connections between flights.
The Flight Connections Centre (FCC), the first purpose built transfer facility at any airport in the world, will handle about 80 per cent of the seven million passengers annually who use Heathrow as a transfer hub.
The 10,000-square-metre centre is next to the busiest of Heathrow's four terminals, Terminal 1, and will be used by all passengers who are arriving or departing via Terminals 1 and 2.
Passengers who are connecting within or between Terminals 3 and 4 - the remaining 20 per cent - will not use the FCC, but will benefit from major investment in improvements to the flight connection facilities within those terminals, including their own dedicated lounges.
The total investment in flight connections, including the FCC and GBP54 million in improvements to baggage-handling, is GBP100 million.
All the improvements are in response to the growing importance of connection passengers to Heathrow and the need to provide special facilities and services for them.
In the last five years the level of transfer passengers has risen from 23 per cent to 30 per cent of the total and the airport wants to build on this growth, according to a British Airports Authority spokesman.